Keeping camera charged with a solar charger

Grzegorz

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Anyone have any experience with solar chargers? I am about to buy a camera to record my rides (probably mobius) and have been thinking of how to keep it charged. I go on long motorcycle rides often 12 hours or longer so relying on the battery in the camera (which lasts probably 2 hours max) is not good enough. I have found several different chargers on amazon and ebay and one which seems interesting is called the Opteka BP-SC6000. Would something like this work to keep a mobius running for 12 hours and where would be the best place to mount it on a motorcycle?
 
My personal choice would be to utilise the bikes charging system same as if it were in a car.
I know from experience gaining access to bikes battery can be a pain ( on certain models ), but if you can a simple fused run of twin core cable from the battery to the cam mounting position would provide all the recharging capability you would ever need and at a fraction of the cost.
Hope this is of help? If not please give us some more info as to why you specifically require a portable recharging unit.
 
Anyone have any experience with solar chargers? I am about to buy a camera to record my rides (probably mobius) and have been thinking of how to keep it charged. I go on long motorcycle rides often 12 hours or longer so relying on the battery in the camera (which lasts probably 2 hours max) is not good enough. I have found several different chargers on amazon and ebay and one which seems interesting is called the Opteka BP-SC6000. Would something like this work to keep a mobius running for 12 hours and where would be the best place to mount it on a motorcycle?
Just hard wire the Mobius to the bike. This way the camera will automatically start and stop when you turn on and off your bike. You won't be "charging", the camera will run off external power.
 
Mainly I dislike the idea of wires running all over my bike, and thought that a wire running from a solar charger in my tank bag to the camera would be shorter/neater than one running from the battery. But I guess using a couple of twist-ties could keep things neat.

Also, if I choose to mount the mobius on my helmet, running a wire from the battery up my body to the helmet would be awkward, whereas with a solar charger I could put it in my jacket pocket and then run a short wire to my head.

My bike is in winter storage now but I will get it back in a few weeks, then I will see what works best.
 
yep you could, but that solar charger in your pocket would be about as usfull as an ashtray on your yoke clamp.!
 
The solar chargers all seem to have batteries built in. The Opteka BPSC6000 has a 6000 mah battery so it should be able to power a small cam like the mobius for several hours even without sunlight. When it's running low I could just whip it out and have the sun charge it for a while, while the mobius's battery takes over.

And why did I never think to install an ashtray on my motorcycle? That's a great idea, we should patent it.
 
Just keep in mind that the Mobius needs an output of 5V and at least 1A to run the camera without damage. So finding a small solar charger with a battery may be difficult. Also if you need it to output 5v and 1A, a solar charger would need a regulator to keep the current constant, since depending on the amount light and angle, the voltage can vary.

I've had a couple of solar chargers and keeping them aligned and in the sun for optimal charging isn't easy.
 
I don't think that's true for modern solar chargers, at least not the one I mentioned or any other ones I found on ebay. They all have a battery and the solar panel charges the battery, then the battery provides the power to whatever you're powering. So the power output is constant.

Some more info if anyone is interested: http://opteka.com/bpsc6000.aspx
 
I don't think that's true for modern solar chargers, at least not the one I mentioned or any other ones I found on ebay. They all have a battery and the solar panel charges the battery, then the battery provides the power to whatever you're powering. So the power output is constant.

Some more info if anyone is interested: http://opteka.com/bpsc6000.aspx
I had a Solio and it claimed to charge the 2000mah battery in 8 hours of direct sunlight which translated in real world terms as 2 days, if you kept it facing directly in the sun not just in the sun. So as a pure solar solution it would be very difficult to keep charged and use
 
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